My Writing Process



I was invited by Regina Puckett to take part in the Writing Process blog tour. Its purpose is to showcase different author methods from over all the world. Regina is best known for such books as Concealed in My Heart and Songs That Whisper.  She has won various book and poetry contests.  If you get a chance, you should check out her books.


My tour questions:


What am I working on?


I am currently working on the final book in the Heiresses in Love series.  I am also working to release an anthology and some other self-published books.  I have a collaboration with another writer on a romantic suspense as well.


How does my work differ from others of the same genre?


I think with the historical romance genre, you rarely see a series where the books make big jumps through time.  This is a throwback in a way to the old romances that Rosemary Rogers did in the 1970s.  They were called bodice rippers then.  In a sense, I have jumped through time with my historical romance series.  In the Heiresses in Love series, Upon Your Return starts in 1864 and ends in 1868.  Its sequel, Upon Your Honor, which will be released through Summer Solstice soon, starts in 1891.  The third book, titled Upon Your Love, will be set in 1894.  As for my other books, I try not to make my stories so typical for a genre, but rather speak for themselves.  A lot of them could fall between genres or sub-genres.


Why do I write what I do?


I love romance.  I have loved reading and writing romance stories since I was a kid.  I can’t imagine doing anything else.



How does your writing process work?


I start out with random scenes and a basic idea of the plot.  As the book develops, I eventually break down and do a major outline to keep myself on track.  Then I start to fill in all the details and do the research.



For this tour, a few of my author friends have agreed to carry the torch next week and answer the same four questions. They will be talking about their writing, so I hope you enjoy meeting them.


Authors

Thanks for dropping by to check out the Writing Process blog tour!   :)

11 comments:

  1. Wish you had shared your process in more detail,Marie. This is pretty vanilla.

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  2. My "writing process" would be way too detailed! LOL. Thanks for sharing, Marie. I look forward to seeing what the other authors have to say, too.

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    1. It is exciting to read everyone's responses. :)

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  3. Thanks for inviting me to participate in this blog tour, Marie. How do you carry out your research? Have you ever done a solo writing retreat just to research or complete a book? I've read your post and Regina's. Can't wait to dive into the others.

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    1. You're welcome, Belinda! My research budget is pretty limited right now. I do a lot of research online or at libraries, but I check my resources to make sure they are legit. For historical research, it's good to check history forums as well as old maps and old records, if you can find them. Newspapers during that time are really good. Since places look different now than they used to, I look at old pictures and try to gain impressions from them, try to imagine myself there in that time. What would I have done? How would I have dressed on a normal day? For contemporary works, it is pretty easy to check places on Google maps and if you're basing it on an actual location, checking that town or city's chamber of commerce or main website for area attractions can come in handy. The nice thing about Google maps is you can do a street view and get an even closer feel for a place when you're not there. In lieu of that, asking locals how things are done doesn't hurt. Some people prefer to write about their own towns for this reason. They already know what's going on. Or maybe it's not a place you need to research, but a concept, a profession. Doing your own research helps, but the best resource is someone who is in that profession. If you're writing a mystery, maybe you need to talk to a detective. If I could, I would travel to the places where my books are set. I would also love to do a writing retreat to accomplish a project (like you said), but I have too much going on right now. Basically, when I focus on a project, I try to organize my time so that I can work on it several times a day. I do a detailed outline, then work on the sections I need to work on. If it requires research, I stop and work on that first. If not, I just write until I run into a roadblock. Usually, a lot of questions will come up during the writing that I have to answer before I can finish. After I answer them, I keep moving forward. That detailed outline can really keep you on track when you go back through and make sure you didn't miss anything. Once the manuscript is finished, it goes out to readers. This is an invaluable tool as well. Sometimes those betas or critique partners will catch technical issues or have questions of their own that you might need to answer. Hopefully, you have caught everything before it gets to that point, but if you've missed a detail here and there, they will most likely notice it. Readers are smart. It also helps to edit your own work several times before you send it out. If you're looking at the piece with a critical eye, you'll notice there may still be details to fill in. Always take a break between writing and editing. But, everyone has a different process.

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  4. Thanks for the invite. Love the questions.

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  5. Here is mine and I thank you so much again. http://romancerambleandbookbabble.blogspot.com/2014/04/my-writing-process-romantic-suspense.html

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    1. Awesome, Trish! You're welcome! I've written romantic suspense as well. :)

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